The Rebels take on Morsi: Your guide to the June 30 Egyptian protests

Rate Article:

Image 1 of 13: Morsi's mistakes: Following the 2011 uprising, Morsi came to power on 30 June 2012 with 51.7% of the votes. His time in office has not been easy - his tenure has been marred by a major economic crisis, protests and accusations that he puts the Muslim Brotherhood first.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: The Rebels assemble: The Tamarrod petition aims at ousting Morsi by withdrawing confidence from the President. It has 15 million signatures, and the group has called for mass protests outside Cairo’s presidential palace on June 30, the date that marks Morsi’s first anniversary in power.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Division and dissent: According to Tamarrod, who don't "want Morsi anymore", he should be removed “Because security has not returned and the poor have no place". A report revealed the current level of dissent in Egypt has not been seen since the “pharaonic era”. Protests are met by police brutality.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Rebellion's requirements: They want to replace Morsi with the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court. They reject the current Egyptian Constitution and want the return to the 1971 Egyptian Constitution, plus the amendments made by Sadat and Mubarak.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Brothers steadfast: The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't accept campaign's legitimacy. “The only recognised democratic mechanism is the ballot box,” the political wing of the Brotherhood said. The MB also accused Tamarrod of enlisting “thugs and criminals” to threaten civil war.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Morsi's Muslim brigade: Sunni Islamist group Gama’a al-Islamiya is lobbying supporters of Morsi to demonstrate on June 30, to counter the protests. The party leader said the group will be ready to “encounter the extremists” and will “respond to abuse with the same”.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Playing God: Anti-Morsi politics are haram, radical preacher Wagdy Ghoneim said, branding the Rebels “disbelievers”. "[The protests] are a front of destruction, made up of crusaders, criminals, thugs, and traitors who want to oust the President...The initiator is the aggressor".

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Rebellious Sheikh: Top Egyptian cleric Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb supports the Rebels, as long as they are peaceful. He even called those against the protests “deviants”. According to government insiders, Tayeb turned down a request from Morsi to condemn the protests.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Christian cooperation? Morsi approached the head of the Egyptian Coptic Church to denounce the protests. But a few days later, Pope Tawadros II held a televised interview in which he said the Church can’t dictate a political position to Egypt’s Copts, who “are present in all 50 political parties in Egypt”.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Military to mobilise? Defence Minister Gen. Abdel Fatah said that the army would “not stand idly by” in the face of violence on the streets and would prevent Egypt from “slipping down a dark tunnel of criminality, treason, sectarian strife or collapse of state institutions”.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: A military caution: The army is playing an active behind-the-scenes role in the lead up to the protests, warning the Brotherhood and other Morsi fans against using violence and blocking routes in and out of cities all over the country.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Morsi's men: Thousands of Morsi supporters made their presence known by packing out a Cairo square, uncannily reminiscent of 2011, a week before June 30. The pro-Morsi march was held under the slogan “Protect the revolution. Yes to peace, no to violence”.

Pause

Play

Image 1 of 13: Over to the President: According to an interview Morsi, the Egyptian leader thinks the idea of early elections are “absurd and illegitimate”. So far he's remained quiet on the subject of the protests, giving no hints on how he will respond on D-Day.

Since he won the elections almost a year ago, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s time in office has not been plain sailing. A worsening economic crisis, political unrest, scandals, and lawlessness sweeping village Egypt have marked his tenure. Despite the Muslim Brotherhood candidate winning over half of the votes in the 2012 elections, dissatisfaction is running rife, prompting the creation of the ‘Tamarrod’ or Rebellion campaign.

Calling for the ousting of Morsi via early presidential elections, Rebellion is demanding major political change in Egypt - a shift in the structure of the executive and a u-turn on the Consitution. Accusing Morsi of not caring for the interests of the average Egyptian citizen, the campaign now has 15 million signatures - two million more votes than the President received in 2012.